The embattled Savannah Clinker Limited has blamed the arrest of its chairman Benson Ndeta as one of the key reasons why it withdrew its bid to take over Bamburi Cement.

In a statement to the public, Savannah said Ndeta’s arrest and charging in court last week has caused the financier of its bid to demand for extra due diligence from the Kenyan firm.

The company’s board says the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) also refused its request made on December 2, 2024 seeking an extension of the offer period by 60 days to allow it to respond to issues raised by its financier prompting its drastic decision made on Wednesday.

“The withdrawal of the Competing Offer has been occasioned by the recent well-publicised arrest and indictment of the Chairman and main shareholder of SCL, which has led to the financier of the Competing Offer seeking additional due diligence, coupled with the decline by the CMA of a request made on 2nd December 2024 to extend the Offer Period by 60 days to enable the Competing Offeror to respond to any inquiries,” said Savanah in a notice.

In that regard, Savannah Clinker Ltd says it has gotten the nod of the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) to withdraw its Sh27.78 billion competing offer to buy Bamburi Cement.

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“Notice is hereby given to the General Public that Savannah Clinker Limited, with the approval of the Capital Markets Authority pursuant to Regulation 17(1) of the Capital Markets (Takeovers and Mergers) Regulations, 2002, has formally withdrawn its Competing Offer to takeover Bamburi Cement Plc, effective immediately,” it ended the public notice.

Informing investors earlier, CMA said it had approved the withdrawal of Savannah Clinker’s offer in accordance with the Capital Markets (Takeover and Mergers) Regulations, 2002.

The regulator consequently advised Bamburi Cement shareholders who had already accepted the offer by Savannah Clinker Ltd to review their decision by Thursday at 5pm.

CMA said shareholders who will not review their choice by Thursday 5pm will be deemed to have rejected the Amsons Group offer hence will remain shareholders of Bamburi Cement.

“Shareholders who had accepted either of the offers are free to withdraw their acceptance before closure of the offer period at 5.00 pm on Thursday, 5 December 2024,” stated CMA.

The regulator further indicated that Trading of Bamburi Cement shares will be suspended from 9.00am on December 6, 2024 to facilitate reconciliation in light of the latest events.

This comes days after Ndeta was released unconditionally by a Nairobi court after being charged with defrauding ABSA Bank Sh4.5 billion and spending the weekend in police cells.